The new album from star cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason features Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2, performed with John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London, alongside the cello sonatas of Shostakovich and Britten with his sister, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. This deeply personal recording pays tribute to cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the towering figure who inspired both composers and Kanneh-Mason himself. Sheku Kanneh-Mason has …

In his new Scandinavia-centric album, Felix Klieser and the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Jamie Phillips, present two contemporary concertos for horn and orchestra. Soundscape – A Walk in Colours by Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson (b. 1956) was commissioned for Felix Klieser and was premiered in 2022. Martinsson describes Soundscape as a single-movement concerto divided into five distinct sections, …

This album marks the culmination of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s decade-long, Grammy-winning Shostakovich cycle and is released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death. It showcases Yuja Wang’s performances with the BSO under the baton of its Music Director Andris Nelsons of Shostakovich’s two contrasting piano concertos – No. 1 in C minor and No. 2 in …

This new recording from Hans Christian Aavik, winner of the 2022 Carl Nielsen International Competition, brings together two contrasting yet deeply expressive violin concertos: Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, performed with the Odense Symphony and conductor Gemma New. While Bruch’s concerto is a beloved cornerstone of the violin repertoire, …

Nicola Benedetti’s new EP of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was recorded with Aurora Orchestra and its Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon, with everyone playing from memory. This is a recording of a piece that emerges out of the urgency of the performances that inspired it, and as Nicola Benedetti says, to “try to approach this music with freshness of heart and mind.” …

Following albums that explore the solo piano works of Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Nora Douglas Holt, and Betty Jackson, and an album of chamber music from the African continent & diaspora with Castle of our Skins, the performer-scholar Dr. Samantha Ege’s new recording features concertos by two trailblazing female composers of the mid-twentieth century. Julia Perry’s Concerto in Two Uninterrupted …

Inspired by the polyptchs (altarpieces composed of multiple panels, often depicting scenes from the Bible or religious figures) of the 14th century Italian painter Duccio, Swiss composer Frank Martin composed a work in six tableaux based on the Passion of Christ. Polyptyque, a concerto for violin and two small orchestras rooted in the music of Bach, Martin sets out to …

A tribute to women composers across history and a range of genres, Esther Abrami’s new album Women showcases 14 composers, spanning newly composed works and rediscovered masterpieces. Abrami carefully chose each piece on Women, not only for its musical brilliance but also for the emotional connection it holds for her, highlighting the often-overlooked voices of women in classical music. “I …

This album showcases three new evocative works by American composer Michael Daugherty, exploring the triumphs and tragedies of flight. Blue Electra is a dramatic violin concerto inspired by the sensational life and mysterious disappearance of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart in 1937. Last Dance at the Surf is a one-movement dance symphony for orchestra that reflects upon rock ’n roll legend …

James Ehnes debuted with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in 1993 when he was 17 and has since shared the stage with the ensemble countless times. He was the Orchestra’s first-ever Artist in Residence from 2021 to 2024 and a featured artist on several national and international tours. Ehnes reunites with the musicians of the NAC Orchestra to perform Bach’s …

Rumon Gamba’s exploration of the music of Ruth Gipps continues with these world premiere recordings of the Fifth Symphony, Violin Concerto, and Leviathan. Composed in 1943 and conceived for her elder brother, Bryan, the Violin Concerto is large in scale and shows remarkable assurance of touch for a twenty-two-year-old composer. Leviathan, for double-bassoon and orchestra, dates from the late 1960s, …

After being the king of court instruments in the seventeenth century, a symbol of refined entertainment, the lute was gradually abandoned in the following century. A small group of virtuosos and composers nevertheless refused to accept this predicted decline: these musicians moved the epicenter of its influence to the courts of Vienna, Bayreuth and Dresden, adapting the codes and forms …

Multi-Grammy nominated violinist Philippe Quint’s presents the world premiere recording of works written for him by three trailblazing women: Lera Auerbach, Errollyn Wallen, and celebrated Soviet-born composer Lora Kvint, the violinist’s mother, with whom he collaborates here for the first time. The concertos by Auerbach and Wallen feature the Royal Scottish National Orchestra led by conductor Andrew Litton, who also …

Beatrice Rana performs four of Bach’s keyboard concertos (BWV 1052 in D minor, 1053 in E, 1054 in D, and 1056 in F minor) in a new recording with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. The internationally acclaimed Italian pianist describes Bach as “an important figure in my life … My piano studies began when I was very young, and Bach was there …

In a companion to Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Works released in January, Seong-Jin Cho continues his celebration of the Maurice Ravel 150th anniversary year with the composer’s two piano concertos. The recordings were made live at Boston’s Symphony Hall with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Cho’s critically acclaimed readings of Ravel, on stage and in the studio, …

This album of world-premiere recordings is inspired by opera but without singing. As conductor Timothy Redmond says, it is “a distillation of the theatrical experience heard through the voice of the orchestra.” The repertoire includes Jonathan Dove’s Stargazer, subtitled “an opera for trombone and orchestra,” featuring virtuoso trombonist Peter Moore. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Thomas Adès’s opera …

Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s latest release features Aram Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto, recorded live with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The concerto is complemented by a series of solo piano works including Khachaturian’s Pictures of Childhood piano suite; Oscar Levant’s transcriptions of the “Sabre Dance” and “Lullaby” from the ballet Gayane; and the premiere recordings of Thibaudet’s own transcriptions of the …

Founded in 2019, the New York-based chamber orchestra Parlando is the brainchild of conductor Ian Niederhoffer, a Musical America “New Artist of the Month” and BBC Music Magazine “Rising Star.” In the ensemble’s debut album, Niederhoffer explores from the 20th century as a tool of cultural resilience in the face of censorship, particularly in the Soviet Union. The album opens …

The prolific recording artists Sinfonia of London conducted by John Wilson present works by Sir William Walton (the first in a new series of recordings) featuring Charlie Lovell-Jones as soloist in the Violin Concerto. Leader of the Sinfonia of London, the 26-year-old Welsh violinist has been recognized as one of the most promising international soloists of his generation. Commissioned by …

The theme for the latest album from the prolific virtuoso pianist-composer and polymath Sir Stephen Hough is nostalgia. This album centers the premiere recording of his first piano concerto, recorded by the composer with The Hallé under Sir Mark Elder. Its subtitle “The world of yesterday” deliberately places the work in a broader context of the pianist-virtuosi of yesteryear who …

Canadian pianist, composer, and recording artist Stewart Goodyear forges new territory with his new album, combining works by Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn with two of his own compositions, joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andrew Constantine. Goodyear’s original works are heard in their world premiere recordings and explore two very distinct thematic threads. Goodyear …

Violinist Renaud Capuçon pays homage to Richard Strauss with a 3 CD compilation of chamber and orchestral works. The album is bookended by a new recording of the youthful Violin Concerto with the Wiener Symphoniker led by Petr Popelka, and an archival reading of Ein Heldenleben. Recorded in 2000, “A Hero’s Life” comes from Capuçon’s days as leader of the …

The fifth volume of John Wilson’s series of orchestral works by his mentor and friend Sir Richard Rodney Bennett features three works composed between 1973 and 1989. The Concerto for Orchestra is an homage to Benjamin Britten, taking a twelve-note series used by Britten in his Cantata Academica as an abstract musical starting point. Bennett’s rarely performed cello concerto Sonnets …

Pianist Roberto Prosseda, a champion of contemporary music, with the London Philharmonic conducted by Nir Kabaretti, present piano concertos from four Italian composers, two of which are premiere recordings. Written between 1900 and 2015, the works by Guido Alberto Fano, Luigi Dallapiccola, Silvio Omizzolo, and Cristian Carrara provide an overview of the piano concerto in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Italy. All …

Pianist Dmitry Masleev, who took first prize in the 2015 Tchaikovsky International Competition, leads the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra (a.k.a. Russian State Symphony Orchestra) from the piano in a program that centers two piano concertantes utilizing the chant melody Dies irae: Liszt’s Totentanz, and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The program also includes Liszt’s Rhapsodie espagnole in a version …